Native American Rights Fund (NARF)

What happened

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) says it has provided legal assistance since 1970 to Native American tribal nations, organizations and individuals nationwide who might otherwise have gone without adequate representation. Its mission statement says NARF "holds governments accountable" and fights to protect Native American rights, resources and lifeways through litigation, legal advocacy and legal expertise. ProPublica lists it in Boulder, Colorado, under EIN 84-0611876, with tax exemption issued in July 1971.

NARF says it is headquartered in Boulder, with branch offices in Washington, D.C., and Anchorage, Alaska, and is governed by a volunteer board of 13 Native Americans from different tribes. Its board page lists Rebecca Crooks-Stratton of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community as board chair and shows John Echohawk as executive director. A staff of more than 30 attorneys handles dozens of major cases at once, it says.

NARF claims it has "successfully asserted and defended the most important rights of Indians and Tribes in hundreds of major cases," in areas including tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, natural resource protection, voting rights and education. Its cases page lists active matters such as voting rights litigation in North Dakota, a challenge to the Line 5 pipeline tunnel brought by the Bay Mills Indian Community, and protecting Bears Ears National Monument.

NARF does not hold land. Its work supports the legal basis for tribal land and treaty claims.

Good to know. A nonprofit law firm, not a land-return group. Its description of its case record is its own.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error